Tea Time
by The Wolf That Got Away
Summary: A One-shot series of various HP characters dealing with their lives, accompanied by a cup of tea. Rated T for drama and angst.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Fourteen years.

Fourteen years had passed since Ariana was gone from this Earth. And now, here he was, in the house where they used to live in.

It was dusty. Not very dusty but signs of abandonment were getting visible, what with the dim lighting and dirty floor. The furniture were no longer pretty as they used to be, just as rust and decay began to tear the building apart.

He desired nothing else of the house. He intended to sell the house and use the money to move elsewhere, preferably a place where his family name was largely unheard of.

But how could he do such thing? There were so many memories to be treasured, moments when Aberforth Dumbledore got everything under control, when he could provide some semblance of normalcy to the Dumbledore household. His mother was still alive, still able to look after the house and its occupants. his sister was still alive, safe and normal to function around the house. Aberforth didn't want anything else but the welfare of them both.

It mattered not when his brother Albus wasn't there. Albus never wanted to be around, not while he busied himself '_collaborating_' with the upper class wizards. For Aberforth, it was fine.

It was happiness for him.

But there were bad memories too, he knew as he sipped his tea. They were... painful, shameful even.

Aberforth refused to acknowledge all the pain and the bad memories, even as he nursed his throbbing head with a cup of tea, but they were there. The nightmares were always there, hiding at the dark corners of his mind, waiting to resurface every night. He never knew that tea would be his medicine to stave off the recurring nightmares. Lately the younger Dumbledore had been having unpleasant dreams.

He saw Ariana blowing up the house over and over from letting her suppressed powers loose. At one time did she killed their mother, forcing Aberforth to look after whatever left of the household. He saw that wretched man Grindelwald assaulting him with an Unforgivable Curse. He saw someone, likely Albus, firing a powerful jinx which ended Ariana's life. Sometimes Aberforth wondered if the Dumbledore family was cursed to always have bad luck chasing them.

The weary man sighed. Of all the things he could be thankful of, he was kind of grateful that he could still make himself a cup of tea as refreshment.

Fourteen years had passed, and all Aberforth had for companionship was a cup of tea.

No one to ask for help. No one to throw the blame at. He already did throw the blame; breaking Albus' nose when he punched him during their sister's funeral; not as satisfying as he hoped, but it was sufficient. It was a long time ago, yet he kept remembering it despite the years.

The tea was getting cold, he darkly mused as he took another sip.

Maybe it was a sign. A sign telling him that the house wasn't meant to be his residence anymore. A sign that he must go on and forget all that took place there.

Of course, nobody would be returning to the house, just as he refused to drink his cold tea any further. His father Percival was dead long ago in Azkaban. His mother was gone too, probably with Ariana at her side in Heaven... if there was such thing as Heaven. And Albus? Too busy teaching at Hogwarts, probably. What subject he taught and for what, Aberforth didn't have it in his heart to ask. He probably became a teacher for the greater good.

_For the Greater Good..._

As if.

He decided he'd had enough. No more pity party, he thought, no more wasting time in the old house. He wouldn't come back here again.

Gathering his belongings, the younger Dumbledore made some last-minute preparations as he made up his mind. Sell the damn house, his mind said. If nobody wanted it then fine, Aberforth bitterly thought as he carried whatever personal objects he might need later on before leaving the house forever. No use bringing items of sentimental value along, unless it was related to Ariana. From that moment onward, Aberforth Dumbledore vowed to never get himself involved in Albus' plots, no matter how much greater good it would yield.

He didn't look back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Foolish and selfish.

Queenie Goldstein could only blame herself as she stared down her tea.

Vinda Rosier said it was chamomile tea, made for the sullen witch moments before the vile acolyte left to work. She said Queenie would be able to clear her mind with its sweet and refreshing taste, but to be honest, the young witch's sadness and conflicting mind prevented her from tasting anything.

What was she thinking?

Was she correct in abandoning her friends and her sister in pursuit of her dreams, at the hands of a dark wizard hellbent for world domination? What would Tina said? Did she even survive that night in Paris?

Goodness, if only Jacob was there to shake her out of this stupor... If only...

Earlier that day, Vinda congratulated her choice, to stand up alongside her kin instead of with her Non-Magique friend. The heartless acolyte of Grindelwald even said that her master's future plans will be infallible in bringing the Non-Magique, the _Muggles_, under their control. But really, will Jacob be spared from the slaughter that is to come?

_Jacob..._

A single tear fell across her cheek into the cup of tea. Queenie paid no mind to it.

Instead she wondered at the events she witnessed for the last three weeks. After she willingly joined Grindelwald, she met with other aspiring wizards and witches who honestly believed in everything Grindelwald said in his dramatic speeches. At the first sight, these people were so passionate and eager, just like the dark wizard himself. Queenie wanted to convince herself, wanted to say out loud that her master was right, that those people were correct in joining him. But the evidence spoke otherwise.

One day, Queenie saw one of the followers, a young wizard in his twenties, murdering his No-Maj father and casted Imperius Curse on his own mother to make her follow Grindelwald. Some three days later, a female acolyte slaughtered a family of No-Maj supporting sorcerers just so that she could claimed the family's money and house as Grindelwald's property. And just last week did Queenie witness Vinda, accompanied by Gunnar Grimmson and a dozen wizards, storming an orphanage not far from where she resided presently.

That cold-hearted bitch claimed to be looking for wizarding children stranded in a No-Maj orphanage. What happened on the other hand was wanton murder of innocent children, and not a single wizard child was found. Was Vinda the brain behind that attack? Queenie bet she was.

And those were the tip of the iceberg.

Where were Grindelwald's promises that No-Majs won't be killed indiscriminately? What happened to his words that he would spare non-supporters as long as they didn't raise their wands against him? Were his speeches lies then?

Feeling disgusted at herself, Queenie disposed of the tea at a nearby sink.

She wanted her tea to be the same as the one Jacob made for her.

_Jacob..._

The No-Maj was possibly under the Aurors' protection, due to his status as a witness. That, or they'd have him Obliviated in order to keep the magical masquerade going. It reminded her of the events in 1926, when the two of them had to share one last kiss under the enchanted rain. It lasted no more than a month or so, but in the end, they found their way back to each other.

She'd have no one to blame but herself if something terrible happened to him. Jacob was right. She wasn't thinking clearly. She was putting him and Tina in greater danger because of her actions.

Queenie admitted, she felt unhappy at her position now. She could try to run away, but not without alerting others of her disposition. Grindelwald's ring of acolytes was quite small, but they were very dangerous sorcerers. They'd know if Queenie made a run for it. No, the correct thing to do now would be to wait. Wait until Grindelwald's acolytes were not paying enough attention and then run, Queenie thought. For now, she must collect information on what his supporters were doing.

Oh, and be careful whenever Vinda offered to make her drink, Queenie mused as she prepared another cup of tea. The wicked woman might try to spike her drink.

The young Legilimens wouldn't feel sorry to see Vinda go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Social interaction.

Nagini never had plenty of social interaction in her life.

Back then, she only had companionship in the form of Credence, who was, and still is, an Obscurus. Some kind of magical illness, he said.

Still, it did not hinder the young man from protecting her during perilous times.

She saw him unleashing his full power, dark and wild and destructive, against evil wizards. It was such a tragic turn of events that Credence, the very person whom she identified the closest, ended up serving the very dark wizards that attempted to end his life. Despite Nagini's pleading, her only friend chose to leave her, already pledging his life to this Grindelwald wizard with his silver tongue.

And where the poor woman ended up now? Drinking British-style tea in the Scamander household. Well, to be frank, it was Newt Scamander's apartment lodging, but the kind Magizoologist offered Nagini a chance to work as his housemaid, complete with spare room and actual payment. Better that way rather than being homeless and jobless... or becoming another attraction at another circus freak show. The woman knew she wouldn't be human anymore in ten years or so, therefore she elected to enjoy her life as best as she could.

The British Ministry of Magic considered her a witness of a potentially dangerous criminal, who was none other than Credence the Obscurial.

The same Ministry also suspected her as a potential suspect of Grindelwald's followers.

There were no evidence to their suspicion, what with Newt and his brother Theseus, vouching for her innocence. Still, the Ministry believed it'd be better if she stayed in Britain under their surveillance, under the alias of 'Nina Dipesh'. The Scamanders suggested using Newt's apartment as Nagini's safehouse, which she accepted.

Were they aware of Nagini's status as a maledictus? She decided to not say anything.

Mr. Scamander's neighbors were mostly Muggles, No-Majs, whatever one might called them. They were not aware of the events she experienced years before, nor were they aware of the wizarding world's woes. Regardless, it was nice to have many people to talk to, especially since many of them were old women, housewives they said. Each of them would have a cup of warm, sweet tea as they share stories with one another, be it newspaper articles, or radio announcement, or simply day-to-day activities.

Normal women who were satisfied with their lives and felt fine to live as housewives.

Normal women whom Nagini could never hope to be...

Some two hours ago, quite early in the morning, Nagini was in her snake form, patrolling the rooftops of the apartment where she and Newt lived in, keeping an eye on the neighborhood. Her body slithered smoothly between crevices, avoiding the eyesight of No-Majs. The annoying pigeons which tend to leave their dropping at inconvenient places swiftly found themselves in her belly every so often.

Now the maledictus found herself drinking tea alone as the neighbors were away, either on vacation or doing important chores. It's a shame, really. She always loved how the old housewives spoke of their teenage lives decades ago, of how music used to come from gramophones instead of radios, of how their transportation were horse-drawn carriages rather than automobiles.

Nagini might had purchased a wand for herself and was familiar with house-cleaning spells, but she found living like No-Majs more preferable. Cooking and washing clothes with hand felt more real to her than waving her wand and muttering words.

And yet, the woman believed she hadn't fully enjoyed her life.

Disheartened, Nagini looked down to see her tea cup emptied faster than she thought. She then looked at the short grandfather clock at the other end of the room.

The sun should be up by now.

The maledictus dreaded it in a funny way. She knew, by sunrise Mr. Scamander would be coming home, bringing with him all manners of problems. Sometimes his bowtruckles needed feeding, other times his nifflers would try to escape his magical suitcase. There was always a trouble waiting to happen in his apartment. Newt's future wife would require a huge amount of patience, that is, if the Magizoologist desired a marriage in the first place.

Cleaning up her tea cup fastidiously, Nagini decided to spend the little free time she had left in her spare room, curling up under her blanket as a snake.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Chaos and confusion.

She was convinced that it was nothing bad, until she threatened the lesser Death Eaters with torture via Cruciatus Curse.

Only then did they spoke the truth.

Just fifteen minutes before, Bellatrix Lestrange received word that the Dark Lord was rendered critically injured and was nowhere to be found. The Dark Lord was performing a classified mission of sort, something which gave very little detail as to what he was planning to do. Field agents sent to look after him merely found traces of dark magic, or to be more specific, signs that a particularly strong dark magic rebounded against the caster's will. The agents couldn't get any closer to the area where it happened in fear of alerting too much Muggles and Aurors from the Ministry of Magic, who were swarming the place like ants.

She sent Lucius a howler, alerting him of her arrival and purpose of visit. Moments later Bellatrix Apparated outside the Malfoy Manor, intending to find answers.

The Malfoy family was as lost as she was.

So too her family members from the House of Black lineage.

Before he left for this 'secret mission', The Dark Lord left her no instruction about what to do should an emergency arise, like right now. Nobody else within his inner circle got special orders regarding this kind of situation. Back then, the loyal followers considered it normal, as the top level Death Eaters were used to performing solo missions, but they usually discussed and prepared contingency cases should a mistake occurred.

Now, they were left with no contingency plans.

The sanctity of Samhain night over the houses and families of Pureblood wizards were shattered by confusion, as members of the Death Eaters sent to pick up news from the Dark Lord returned empty handed. As if the great revered leader vanished from the face of the Earth.

Time that could've been spent on drinking tea and interacting with family members turned sour by this revelation.

Bad news, indeed.

Already, talks among the lower caste of the organization were stirring like wildfire, of the scared and weak ones plotting to run away and sell their comrades to the Ministry, or the greedy ones among them vied for greater amount of influence as the organization's leader's whereabouts remained a mystery. For the time being, those talks might as well be rhetoric, but given enough time, the whispers might turn into open rebellion, and the Pureblood families would be no more.

This was not supposed to happen.

Dobby the house-elf set up a special table where the Malfoys, the Blacks, and the Lestranges would usually gather for tea time and meaningless chats on sensational articles from the _Daily Prophet_, but tonight no one cared to be there. The family members were trying to process the latest development of this unacceptable 'scandal' and contact their sleeper agents outside of the circle.

The tea that lowly creature made precisely for her was taken over by Narcissa, who somehow finished her own tea without anyone looking.

Bellatrix didn't care, but she felt sorry for Narcissa for some reason.

The Death Eaters wouldn't survive for long without the revered leader. She wanted to organize a rescue mission with some of the more experienced members like Dolohov and Rosier; hopefully Bellatrix and whoever came with her would get to the Dark Lord's aid first before the Ministry-loving traitors found him. If Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix had their hands involved in this... Bellatrix would make sure they regret it deeply.

Well, it's time to start the mission. She'd need to contact them before sunrise. There would be allies to gather, enemies to kill or capture, and places to visit.

The damned tea can wait.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 6**

Scandals on the news.

Remus Lupin the werewolf nearly lost his mind when he got the news. Albus Dumbledore came the other day, carrying with him a grave news; James and Lily Potter had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter, their child, was the only survivor.

Soon enough, other members of the Order of the Phoenix came by and confirmed it. First, it was Minerva McGonagall and Alastor Moody, then came Frank Longbottom, and later on came Nymphadora Tonks. All confirmed that the Potters, sans their son Harry, perished in the surprise attack.

What a terrible fate they experienced.

Lupin found his tongue unable to taste anything out of anxiety and dread.

For the next couple of days, Lupin could only remain in his hideout, making himself cups of tea which he left untouched for hours as more news and speculations arose.

For the most part, the wizarding papers and radios aired the murder case matter-of-factly, investigating the crime scene as the Aurors left no stone unturned in their search. Dumbledore could only give so much detail as to what really happened. Then rumors spread as little Harry was gossiped to be an illegitimate son of a Death Eater or a possible recruit for the dark wizards despite being no more than one year old at the time. More extreme scandals spoke of how Harry was destined to best Lord Voldemort as the next dark wizard, and the murder was an attempt by the Dark Lord to suppress potential challenger to his throne.

The Death Eaters, as a whole, found itself leaderless, and without anyone brave enough to take over the organization, they split apart; some desperate to seek out their missing master, some were just glad to move on with their lives, using bribery and dramatic alibi to escape punishment.

Undeniably, without witnesses to question, and the only survivor of that night already being transported by Professor Dumbledore to a 'safe place', nobody ever found out the truth.

Lupin hoped that the old wizard knew what he was doing.

Then Sirius Black, his best friend, was arrested for mass murder.

In the ensuing mass panic, Lupin could scarcely find the truth about Sirius. Just as how he rarely ate the food he cooked nor drank the tea he regularly made every late afternoon, Order members also looked into the case, only to stopped and shook their heads in disgust. The Order was used to losing members once in a while; they never thought to lose four or more in such a short time. Lupin's questions were answered, not in words but in gossips and enchanted pictures.

Sirius was the alleged murder of their most dimwitted friend, Peter Pettigrew. He too jinxed a road where Pettigrew stood to explode, resulting in the death of a dozen Muggles. His punishment? Lifelong imprisonment in Azkaban.

No more barking laughter that he grew accustomed to. No more romantic voyeur between James and Lily, which he loved to laugh at.

Now the only company the werewolf had were his tea and a visiting person, the occasional friend in the form of a tabloid-selling Muggle boy. They had been friends for three weeks. It was kind of a blessing that the Muggle boy suffered none of the griefs of wizarding Britain's population.

But soon, full moon is approaching.

The boy wouldn't be safe around him. Compared to his disinterest in drinking his tea, the Muggle's safety must come first. Maybe it'd be best to warn him by using sickness-related excuse, Lupin decided, hopefully it'll scare the kid away from him for fear of contracting the illness.

Safety must come first. The tea could always wait.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

Another boring day.

Just like all those days he'd spent inside this poor excuse of a zoo for years to no end, Sly the boa constrictor was bored to death.

He considered visiting the glass cages located on the left and right of his cage and try to make friends with whoever or... _whatever_ lived in them, but alas, he was just a snake. No way to get out of the cage without something useful, like hands, or legs, or maybe extra heads or branching tail.

If only he was as intelligent as the humans.

There was one incident where Sly managed to escape his confinement for a brief moment. He used this chance at freedom to explore the zoo a little bit. Sadly (or not), he journeyed into the den of a big creature with striped fur, fangs, yellow eyes, and a rather nasty habit of clawing and biting foreign things, Sly included. The boa secured himself on a high tree, with the striped beast roaring at him unhappily as it tried to climb the tree, and the zookeepers running here and there trying to take him back to the cage.

It was a shame that he hadn't had any more adventures lately.

Hissing in exasperation, Sly turned his sight toward the two human teenagers standing outside, a little farther away from his cage. A male and a female if he's correct.

They talked about something called iced-tea and dating somewhere other than the zoo, even though Sly couldn't understand their language. The boa simply assumed they were flirting with each other, possibly a human ritual before mating.

Well, language barrier might be a problem for the boa, but then the humans left the scene for five minutes or so. Then they came back, carrying with them to long containers filled with cold, brownish water. Once in a while they would trade kisses while sipping at the weird-looking water.

It looked dirty, do humans drink dirty water? Or was it the result of some mechanical processing humans loved to do with their tools?

The boa found it quite disgusting. Fortunately, the two humans disappeared just as a group of small-bodied humans, most likely human children, walked into view. They all dressed the same. Those things they wore, be they animal skin or clothes made from some other material, made the little humans indistinguishable from each other. Sly thought them as little more than brief distraction as the next group of humans came along.

Now, those humans were taller and the fur patches on their heads were much brighter than the fur of those little humans. These new ones spoke in higher-pitched language unlike the ones who used to be in the zoo, and their behavior suggested Sly that they were not the same as the people who lived outside of the zoo. Maybe they came from another country? It's possible.

Sad to know that these humans also drank the suspicious-looking brown water in randomly shaped containers like the couple from before. Seeing them enjoying the brown water made the boa curious, as he assumed the humans considered the brown water to be sweet or salty just now. Not sure why, but Sly felt averse to perform what they did.

The only consisted thing about their beverage was that it smelled like plants were used in its concoction.

And then they too walked away from the cage.

Sly decided to sleep the day off when a third group of humans came in front of the cage.

The male of the group was big and fat, but the smaller male, his child perhaps, was bigger and fatter. The boa thought of him as some kind of pig-like creature which he couldn't hope to swallow, even if he wanted to. The female standing behind them looked like a horse, or maybe those sand-dwelling things the zoo named 'camel'. Somebody smaller emerged behind them, a skinny human with round glass in front of his eyes. The big fat humans knocked on his glass cage loudly as if taunting him to eat them. But it was no use; the glass was unbreakable, and soon the three humans left him alone...

Well, not entirely alone as the skinny male remained.

When they made eye contact, Sly sensed that this particular human had something... special inside him.

If anything, he became curious.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Professor Filius Flitwick was sitting in the Teacher's Lounge. On his left was Professor Sprout and on his right was Madam Pomfrey.

The first day of teaching in Hogwarts' new school year seemed to made them miss hearing each other's chattering.

Professor Flitwick served three cups of warm tea, one for each of them, as he indulged himself in Professor Sprout's opinion about the recent Sorting ceremony and other events preceeding it. The short teacher kept his tea without sugar, however.

Once all of them were comfortably seated on their preferred sofas, Professor Sprout began talking.

That year, 1991, quite a handful of events took place in short time. Firstly Professor Sprout spoke of how Harry Potter was not the special child people expected. Mr. Potter, according to the older woman, looked fairly similar to other first-year children instead of standing out amongst the crowd, and possessed no air of arrogance to him. Madam Pomfrey concurred, believing that no one, not even a first-year student is allowed special treatment in Hogwarts. All students were meant to be equal, even Harry Potter.

Other new students were largely normal, if not slightly uninteresting. The only exception was one Hermione Granger; the short teacher held a positive view on the female student as she was one of very few who paid attention in the class, both in his and McGonagall's.

Sprout also noted how Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, was Sorted into Slytherin just like the sons from Crabbe and Goyle families. It was no surprise, Flitwick thought, as pure-blood families of Wizarding Britain was very keen on keeping their children Sorted in the same House; in this case, Slytherin. The school's nurse seemingly agreed.

There was also this security arrangement the headmaster asked them to set up around the third floor. Professor Dumbledore was reported (not by the media) to have moved a magical artifact into the castle for protection. It was a Philosopher's Stone, made by his old friend Nicholas Flamel several centuries ago. Originally, the Stone was kept in Gringott's underground vault, but then a break-in occurred. It was a miracle that Hagrid was there to remove it on time. God knows what the thief would do if he got his hands on the Stone. Putting magical defenses in the rooms leading to the artifact's chamber was difficult, but the teachers managed to pull it off in the end.

Quite a bewildering and eerie turn of event, Professor Flitwick noted.

Aside from those topics, the three Hogwarts staff shared mostly trivial news, such as how the Ministry of Magic was nearly shooed out by the President of MACUSA for relaying the wrong news or how new stores were opening up in Diagon Alley.

When dinner time approaches, Madam Pomfrey offered to let the other teachers know when they could hold up another tea time together. Professor Sprout and Flitwick took their time cleaning up the tea cups before leaving as well.

Professor Flitwick knew that out of all teachers, only Professor Snape would reject the offer.


End file.
